jane rosenthal Tagged Articles at Cinematical

No, Robert DeNiro will not be playing the Communist leader in a biopic. That would be ridiculous. Instead he will be co-producing a film set in China during the time Mao Zedong came to power. He and his Tribeca Productions partner, Jane Rosenthal, are teaming up with Universal for an adaptation of Roy Rowan's memoir Chasing the Dragon: A Veteran Journalist's Firsthand Account of the 1949 Chinese Revolution. I'm sure the title says exactly what the memoir is and what the movie will be about, but I will clarify the details that Variety gives us: Rowan went to China as a worker for United Nations Relief, but he quit that job in order to be a correspondent for Time and Life. He was accompanied by photographer Jack Birns as he covered the rise of Mao and the Communist Party. And fortunately for Universal and for most moviegoers, there's some romance and intrigue involved in the story: Rowan fell in love with a Chinese interpreter who may have been a spy.

That last part makes me think of my least favorite part of DeNiro/Tribeca's The Good Shepherd, but I think that has more to do with actor Eddie Redmayne (or DeNiro's direction of him) than with the story. I doubt DeNiro will be the director of Chasing the Dragon (or whatever they title it), and I wonder if he will even have a role in it. Aside from Rowan and Birns, who I think were both too young, I'm not sure there will be any other appropriate characters. Perhaps he can play someone at the Shanghai Time and Life bureau? Or if the film takes us to America at all, editor-in-chief Henry Luce? It should be fine if DeNiro can't be in it. He's not in every film Tribeca produces; it just seems that way. The epic script is being written by the relatively novice team of John Marans and Yuri Sivo, based on their pitch. For people looking for a good Mao biopic, this will probably not be it, but we can all hope Jung Chang's Mao: The Unknown Story gets optioned someday. According to Publisher's Weekly, Rowan's book is primarily about the making of his career. So, if you're tired of movies about foreign cultures presented as filtered through a white character (The Last Samurai; The Last King of Scotland), this might not be a movie for you.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but it sure didn't get help from New York City. So why does the Rome Film Festival, which kicks off its first edition next month (Oct. 13 - 21), need the assistance of NYC's Tribeca Film Festival? It probably doesn't, but nonetheless, as Martha reported last month, a partnership between the two was made. Today there was an official announcement of the union, as Mayor Bloomberg welcomed Rome's Mayor Walter Veltroni and RFF CEO Carlo Fuortes to his city. They joined with TFF founders Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff to reveal the films Rome has selected for their Tribeca-conjunction showcase. They are Akeelah and the Bee, The War Tapes, The Bridge, The Lew Rudin Way, The Mist in the Palm Trees (La Niebla en las Palmeras) and The Yacoubian Building. Additionally, a few other films that played at Tribeca this past Spring are already on Rome's slate of films, including Driving Lessons, I'm Reed Fish, Just Like the Son and Tierney Gearon: The Mother Project. Next year, Tribeca will likewise borrow some of this year's RFF titles for a similar showcase.

Rome will also be presenting its first "Steps and Stars Award" to the Tribeca Film Festival, in recognition of its significant contribution to the film industry. De Niro will accept the award on the TFF's behalf while at Rome previewing 20 minutes of his new film, The Good Shepherd.

As the history books dictate, the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival began this morning with neither a bang nor a whimper, but instead, a rigorously managed press event. As with any film festival's opening ceremonies, the purpose of today's press conference seemed to be three-fold: it gave the Festival organizers a chance to communally pat backs; to tip the press off to various boldface names associated with the fest; and to lavish praise on the corporations that make it all possible.

It was a strange morning. I don't think I've ever seen a group of people seem generally less enthused about the project they were shilling. Monotone script reading seemed to be the order of the day, complete with minimal audience eye contact, and facial expressions ranging from glum to smug all around. There were a few moments of genuinely felt spontaneity. Tribeca Executive Director Peter Scarlet, who Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal introduced as "someone who hasn't seen the light of day in a long time," passionately pimped the very good Restored and Rediscovered sidebar, reminding us that preservation is important because "60% of films made don't exist anymore." Josh Lucas, speaking as both jury member and representative of Poseidon, also seemed genuinely amped whilst going through his bit; at the very least, he did it without a script.

The entirety of the event could be summed up in a single moment: Late in the program, Robert De Niro read a short speech, without looking up from the page, in a singularly lifeless tone. After finishing the line, "It's great that so many people seem to show so much enthusiastic support," De Niro paused – and the press corps burst into giggles.

My notes on the rest of the event follow after the break.